Campaign criteria for the special election fund?

How do we choose which campaigns and candidates to add to the special election fund?  We look for races which have a history or turnout or voter registration that suggest they could win.

The CA Away Team Special Election fund raises money for Democratic candidates running competing in elections before the 2018 midterms in winnable swing  districts for a federal or state office.  

What races and candidates qualify?
To qualify to be on this list, a candidate must satisfy the following criteria:

  • They must be the only Democratic candidate in the race; and
  • They must be running in a federal or state district which is currently held by a Republican, but is winnable by a Democrat, or is held by a Democrat but is winnable by a Republican.

We define winnable races as races where either:

  • the previous election was won by 3% of the votes or less; or
  • down or up ballot Democratic candidates received more votes than their Republican opponent in that district; or
  • Democratic registered voters are no less than 3% less than Republican registered voters; or
  • Republican voters are no less than 5% less than the registered Democratic voters.

Once the special election has completed, we remove the candidate from this giving fund.  As new special elections are announced, we add new candidates automatically.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the California Away Team take a cut or piece of any of the funds I donate?

No, all monies raised go directly to the campaign, the California Away Team does not handle or get a cut of your money.

What if there's a long shot candidate in a heavily Republican-held district, will you support them?

The race must be winnable for us to support it.  A Democrat must have come close previously, there must be proof of Republican turnout for a different Democratic candidate elsewhere on the ballot, or there must be enough Democratic voters registered to win the race.  We don't send money to longshot races.  We support battlegrounds.

Why won't you give money to one (or all) the candidates in the Democratic primary before a run-off?

Smarting from the 2016 Presidential primary, we don't want to get into the business of choosing one Democrat over another, nor do we want to dilute gifts amongst a broad field of democratic candidates.  That's a difficult to justify use of donor money.  Unless the field has been cleared, or there is an extremely prominent front runner, we wish to wait to support the chosen Democratic candidate.


March 25, 2017: Added Rob Quist to the fund after he won the Democratic nomination.  Rob is running for the At-Large Congresional seat.  His special election is on May 25, 2017.

Feb. 25, 2017: We removed Stephanie Hansen from the fund because she completed her special election.  (We raised $5,280, she won her Senate seat).

Jan 21, 2017 (approximate): We created the fund and added Stephanie Hansen (DE Senate 10) and Jon Ossof (GA Congressional 6) to the fund.